Persecution of Christians by the Vikings

The persecution of Christianity by the Vikings lasted from the first Viking contact with Christians, the 8 June 793 Sack of Lindisfarne, until the conversion of Harald Bluetooth in the 960s. The Vikings traditionally adhered to Germanic paganism and worshipped the deities of Odin, Thor, Loki, and Heimdall, among others, and their attitudes towards Christianity was hostile since their first contact with England in 793 saw them sack a monastery and massacre the monks. The Vikings would go on to burn down churches and build runestones and temples across England when they invaded England in 865, and the Danelaw would have paganism as its main belief. Between 793 and the 960s, several Christian priests were killed, with Constantine II of Scotland and Charles the Bald's attempts to convert the Vikings to Catholicism ending in the imprisonment and execution of their priests. Harald Bluetooth's conversion in the 960s began the Christianization of Scandinavia, while some nobles of Jorvik had converted to Christianity due to the influence of outside priests. Bluetooth's conversion allowed for other Vikings to convert as well, and most Vikings were Christian by the 1000s.